


Songbird

by Vesperchan



Series: Tumblr Shorts [16]
Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Arranged Marriage, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Based on a Tumblr Post, F/M, Happy Ending, Haruno Sakura-centric, Magical Creatures, OR IS IT, Old Gods, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Surprise Ending, Thunderbird - Freeform, Tumblr Prompt, bridal auction, cause she's a BAMF in her own way, dark!Kakashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21844651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperchan/pseuds/Vesperchan
Summary: Sakura's family is in debt and she is determined to save them from the money lenders with a risky plan that involves gathering the feathers of a thunderbird to make into a wedding dress.Things did not go according to plan.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi
Series: Tumblr Shorts [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1228031
Comments: 22
Kudos: 447





	Songbird

**Author's Note:**

> Guest: You mentioned Paolo Sebastian and expect us to pick just one?! I tried to narrow them down. 2016 AW Reverie dress 14. 2015-16 SS The Nightingale dress 07 (All the grey/silver wing dresses are amazing.) 2014-15 SS Sirens of the Sea dress 09. The first and second dresses in the 2019-20 AW collection, too. I would also like to tell you about my absolute favorite designer/collection: Hassldriss 2019 SS Ashes. Gives me ethereal, mythical creatures and goddess vibes, thought you’d like it, as well.

Sakura scurried up over the cracks in the rock face and used her momentum to keep her from pitching sideways into the deep valley below. Her hands were rough and held her in place when she paused to catch her breath, reminding her to be proud of her harsher features.

It had been several years since she had moved from the lord’s house with her mother to the outskirts of the Fire Country’s boundaries. Gone were the paved roads and tall buildings with fancy doors and glass windows. The mountains were as rough and rugged as her hands, making it no place for a young lady to grow up.

But Sakura wasn’t a _young lady_.

“Just a little farther,” she told herself instead of looking down.

Her mother had been a maid and in her youth she had warmed the bed of men she shouldn’t have, thinking it would get her ahead. When it didn’t she took her small child with unnatural jewel like eyes and fled to the outskirts. It wasn’t much longer before the harsh climate took its toll on them with Mountain Fever, something only Sakura survived.

The screeching cry of a large bird made Sakura pause on the cliff and listen, waiting to hear more. But the cry was only an echo and there was no sign of the thunder bird who nested in the cracks.

A little while later Sakura pulled herself up onto a ledge and rolled onto her back, breathing hard. The air was thin and there was only so much a person could acclimate to on their own. The climb had been treacherous, but the reward would be worth it.

Sakura rested a minute more before pulling herself up and crawling over to the long nest, easily three times her own size. Inside were the loose feathers left behind that shimmered and gleamed in the pale light. Sakura loaded her pack, amazed by her luck. The thunderbird had left behind so many beautifully colored contour feathers and even some strong flight feathers. When Sakura handled them they greedily reflected the light like they were the only thing in the room allowed to.

Sakura was careful to pick her way around the nest and keep her contact with the boundaries of it to a minimum. Thunderbirds had an excellent sense of smell, after all.

She worked quickly, until her pack was full and then went back to squeeze some more feathers into her pockets. It had been a day’s labor to scale the mountain and two days worth of travel by path to the place where her climbing could begin, far from the village where she lived.

She should have left as soon as her bag was full.

Sakura felt the static in the air and then tasted the tang in the back of her mouth. She looked to the cliff opening and saw thunder clouds in the distance, dull and silent but no less dangerous. She scrambled to the edge, but the screech made her cower on her knees, holding her ears from the nausea.

In the shadow of the storm clouds the mighty bird soared more like a bullet and less like a beast for his den.

Sakura did all she could to roll out of the way and pin herself again the cave wall, hoping she might not be noticed in his den.

The silver bird banked and then touched down, filling up the cavern with his size as it stalked towards its bed with talons as large as Sakura’s torso. She held her breath as it paused and turned white with it stiffened.

The feathers down his back ruffled as it turned, opening its wings part way to block her path as it rounded on her, his gray black eyes charged with lightning.

It screeched again and the sound made Sakura cry out in pain, holding her head as she crumbled to the ground.

“Please my lord, forgive me!” she cried through her tears. “Please, forgive me, forgive me.”

With a strength she didn’t have, Sakura forced her body into a deep bow, pressing her forehead to the stone as more tears fell free to stain it underneath her. She was at his mercy and if the stories were to be believed, the thunderbirds were no more merciful than any of the other beast gods.

“Little morsel, you come into my home, into my nest, with greed in your heart,” it roared with a voice like thunder. He flapped his mighty wings once to shake them out and then bent his head lower. “I smell your fear but it will not save you. Produce your weapon and end your own life if you can.”

Sakura trembled. “My lord, I have no such weapon. I swear I meant you no harm. I-I would never. Please, I beg you to abate your anger against me.”

“Liar.”

“I swear it to you, I never wished you ill.”

It roared with magic, making her bones tremble. “Then why have you dared the wrath of my mountain to post yourself in my nest and lie in wait for my return? Why hide yourself?”

Trembling, Sakura removed her bag and flipped the front flap open. The glare of light from the discarded feathers was bright enough to see without removing. “I am no such fool, but I am a thief and I am a coward, I came here in your absence to plunder your cast offs. I-I meant to leave before your return but I was too greedy. Forgive me, forgive me!”

Some of the electricity in the air snapped and then lessened. The bird flapped once more before taking a step forward to inspect her bag, sniffing it and then nudging it with his beak.

“Filthy cast offs, you risked your life with such a climb for this? None of these feathers hold any magic. What use could you have for my mess?”

Sakura swallowed. “A dress. I wished to sew them into a dress.”

The bird said nothing, but Sakura heard it shift closer. His shadow fell over her and then there was a tingle as his beak nipped at her hair and then nudged against her back. She kept still as it searched her over. 

“You are a dirty human who lives close to the land. What use would you have for a dress with my feathers?”

Under his shadow Sakura swallowed and forced the words out. “I…I wish to sew for myself a wedding dress, so I might…so I might be married at the Crossroads.” 

The bird pulled back. “A barbaric tradition,” it boomed. “A human turning itself into cattle? There is no nature that can explain such things.”

“I don’t have any other choice,” Sakura admitted with distress as more tears fell. “I have debts to pay and-and I can’t live like this anymore. I can’t take care of those who saved me like how I am. If I’m-if I’m married a husband would take on my debts and my family would be fed. There’s nothing else I can do.”

The bird nipped at her hair again, still so close. “You climbed my mountain and made it into my nest but you cry like a lamb and claim uselessness? The humans have fallen further than I had first assumed if they can not see your value.”

“Please, let me leave with my life, my lord. I can not leave my parents alone on this earth just yet, not until I’ve paid back my debt to them. I beg you, please, I beg you.”

The bird made a noise that was like a chuff before pulling back and flapping hard.The breeze made her flinch.

“Not tonight, little one. You tremble worse than the leaves in my storms. You cannot climb in your current state. Come.”

Sakura almost squeaked in distress as she was picked up by the back of her shirt and lifted into the air before being set down into the middle of the nest. Sakura looked up, shocked as the silver gray bird turned about, circling her before folding his wings and curling down around her.  
“My lord,” Sakura squeaked.

“Sleep, you will have no peace until you do.”

“Here?” Sakura asked with a voice that pitched high.

She heard the thunder bird rumble in delight at the sound she made and somehow that only embarrassed her. It turned its head and stared up at her with eyes more black than gray. He was a god beast, one of the ancient creatures and it dwarfed her in every way.

“You wish to defy me?” it teased.

“I-this is-this is your nest.I couldn’t-”

“Your eyes are very old,” it interrupted her, looking away to readjust. “I remember with the first gods still walked between the clouds. I’ve not seen such clear eyes since then, but yours come close. You’re not some princess, are you? I thought only the royal families bred with the last traces of divinity.”

The question made her squirm. “I’m nobody, my lord.”

“Everybody is somebody.”

“Not me.”

It turned to face her once more, staring hard until Sakura ducked her face and blushed. She only looked up once she felt the tug on her curls as it pulled with his beak to get her attention.

“Your name?”

“S-Sakura.”

“Just Sakura?”

“My mother’s surname was Haruno, but I don’t know my father so…so just Sakura.”

“Fitting. You look like a flower.”

“My lord,” Sakura breathed, covering her face with her hands as it rumbled in mirthful enjoyment of her honest distress. It was an immortal so of course it would enjoy teasing such an insignificant creature like her.

“You may call me Kakashi, enough with your silly human titles. You owe me no such allegiance, and I’d like it better if we were friendly.”

Sakura swallowed, running the name over in her head before daring to form it with her own lips. “Kakashi.” It sounded so simple, too simple for such a revered creature 

“Very good. Now sleep, Sakura,” it rumbled, sounding more like distant thunder.

So she did.

When she awoke in the morning she felt far more rested than she should have for falling asleep in a bed of sloppy down feathers and twigs. There was no sign of the thunder bird-of Kakashi-but her bag had been left untouched and her stolen feathers were still stuck inside her pockets, so she didn’t question it further.

It took another full day to climb back down the mountain until she was on solid ground once again, and then another two days more traveling down the long, winding paths carts and horses never traveled anymore. All the shrines and crumbling churches lay empty along the roadside, forgotten even by pilgrims.

When Sakura arrived back home Ino and her parents all wept on sight, claiming she had been gone too long and everyone thought she had died. Overdramatic as ever, Sakura let them fuss until they were content before showing off her finds.

“Oh Sakura, no…” Ino whispered, eyes wide with fear.

“We can’t all be lucky and fall in love with good people,” Sakura teased back.

A month later Sakura was done with her dress and Inoichi had his cart ready with wildflowers to sell at the Crossroads. Ino and Sai stood outside, watching her leave with the same solemn faces.

“They’ll get over it, they have each other,” Sakura laughed to her adopted father as he yelled at the horses to move.

“They also had you, but now they don’t. Don’t think they’ll get over it so easy,” he grumbled.

“I…easy or not, they’ll get over it because they have to.”

Inoichi bent his head to hide his tears under the cover of his wide brimmed hat. “Our debts shouldn’t be for our children to worry about. Sakura-”

“I’m not your child, Inoichi,” she interrupted softly, making him jerk, “and this is my choice.”

He swallowed thickly and shook his head. “We can still turn back,” he whispered.

“And you can still be killed for not paying back your money lenders. Don’t ask me to make that choice, you know what I’ll say,” Sakura whispered back. “I’ve come this far, let me face this as I see fit.”

Inoichi didn’t speak up again, but Sakura noticed how he didn’t rush the horses even when the roads allowed it. When the reached the Crossroads he grabbed for her hand one last time and kissed her knuckles, crying over her fingers. “Forgive this old man for his foolishness,” he said.

Sakura reached up and kissed at the corner of his eyes where the wrinkles caught most of his tears. “I loved you and I always will, father. Thank you for letting me go.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really,” Sakura laughed before slipping off the cart.

With hours to go before the bidding, Sakura arrived at the Matchmaker’s early and was let in with a few whispered words. Once inside she was seen to, examined, prodded, interviewed, cleaned, and redressed in the handmade gown. 

“You’re one of three, but you’ll be last since…well…” the matchmaker’s eyes slid down Sakura’s figure and then up again, settling on her eyes. “…we don’t get such rare beauties this matured very often. You’re quite the holdout. What’s the reason?”

“A family debt,” Sakura answered honestly, long since numb to the looks and questions. “When is the noon bell?”

“Not for another half hour, come let’s take you to the lounge where you can have some tea. It’s good for the nerves.”

Sakura allowed herself to be led away to a dainty little parlor where two other girls, both younger, sat drinking tea and avoiding the stale sweets offered on a silver tray. Both frowned when they saw Sakura walk in but neither said anything.

Absently, Sakura noticed both girls looked younger in person compared to their posters. It seems the artist had painted them as more mature to attract more of an audience. Sakura hadn’t seen her own posters, but the painting they were based off of had been flattering enough even if it was only from her shoulders up.

A voice just outside made it through the doorway for each of the three girls to hear.

_“It’s a better turn out than the last one.”_

_“Forget the last season, this is bigger than all last year’s crowds.”_

_“What do you expect when it’s only once a season they turn out?”_

One of the girls made a sound that betrayed her youth and Sakura felt sorry for her, but not sorry enough to open her mouth and lie. They were going to be sold off, they had signed up for this, and the chances of any of them being happy with what came next was slim, no matter what the matchmaker said.

Outside the noon bell rang like a death knell and the first girl stood when the door opened. She held her head high and marched out in a swirl of lavender colored fabrics to the roar of an excited crowd. 

The bidding took five minutes, but the preamble was ten times that. Sakura could hear how the girl was led around stage and talked up, listing the number of instruments she could play and languages she could speak, but little else.

She didn’t go for a poor price, but it would likely be the lowest since she was first.

The next girl stood when the door was opened. She stared straight ahead and marched with less grace, but as her virtues were read off to a frenzied crown the stiffness mattered less and less.

Her bidding took less than ten but more than five minutes.

When the door opened again Sakura saw the attendant laughing. “The crowd’s only grown,” was his excuse.

Sakura swallowed her nerves and threw her head back. She had climbed the Spine of the world, plucked feathers from the nest of a thunderbird, and slept under his wings. This crowd would not frighten her.

“This way,” the attendant said.

Sakura put one foot in front of the other, measuring her pace the way she’d seen noble ladies do. Through the short hallway and out onto the stage she followed the attendant out with a mask of indifference. The Crossroads’ open square was packed and all the nearby buildings had faces in their windows.

When she had been a child she had enjoyed the thought of being considered beautiful.

Now all she could do was curse it.

The matchmaker waved to the attendant and Sakura squared her shoulders as the long fur coat was pulled from her shoulders. The crowd’s reaction was understandable as she stepped forward into the light.

The cut of her dress was low, reaching almost to her navel as the bodice was crafted out of the thunder bird’s silver feathers. Glittering feathers hugged her waist and covered her hips, but did little else as the dress morphed into glittering see-through fabric that hid nothing of her figure from view. When she was asked to walk across the stage, the crowd roared at the sight of her, her indecency, her immodesty, her beauty, her legs, the swell of her breast, the dress, the way she reflected the light…

“And she sings, ladies and gentlemen,” the matchmaker cooed in mock adoration. “What a little songbird. Who wouldn’t want to have her in his own golden cage?”

“Sing!” the crowd demanded.

In reaction the matchmaker motioned to the attendant who had pulled out a simple hand drum. When he struck it the drum gave a solid thud that repeated and repeated and repeated. With every strike the crowd quieted until they were silent.

Sakura shut her eyes and inhaled.

On the next strike she let her voice out, low and rolling. When she sang she sounded like the mountain, loud and booming with highs and lows an eagle could soar through. The language was an old one that sounded as lost as the forgotten religions and shrines left at the base of the Spine of the world. 

_Spellbound am I, am I_

_The wizard bewitched me, bewitched me_

_Spellbound deep in my soul, deep in my soul_

_In the heart glows a burning fire, a burning fire_

The song morphed until it was less lyrical and more a testament to her range as she held a note up high and kept it aloft until the last sudden beat of the drum. Then all at once there was silence.

When she opened her eyes the crowd before her was just as spellbound as her parents the first time she sang for them-before they made her swear never to again.

What a horrible daughter she turned out to be. 

The crowd broke like a dam and the roar was deafening but Sakura refused to flinch. She was numb to it as the matchmaker rushed to the front of the stage and motioned wildly for the crowd to quiet.

She couldn’t get them under control for a good five minutes as they screamed for more. She tried to read off more of Sakura’s qualifications, but it seemed no one was interested in anything beyond her song.

“Then the bidding for our songbird…”

Sakura closed her eyes as it began.

Her price climbed rapidly until it became apparent only two men in the crowd had enough of an estate to shoulder the expense. From 300 Krown (a moderately rich man’s yearly salary) to 500 to 700 her bridal price climbed. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized her cut would be large enough for Ino’s family to live comfortably on for the rest of their days.

“Five thousand Krown!” a new voice boomed.

Sakura raised her face and saw further back a man flanked by attendants, all dressed in the same dark uniforms trimmed in silver. In the afternoon’s sunlight the medals on their breast pockets gleamed, making them all look impressive.

At the front was a man with dark eyes and silver hair that betrayed his youthful face. For a noble he seemed too beautiful. 

The crowd grew quiet.

In the history of the Crossroads the bridal price had only exceeded 1000 Krown a total of three times, but the highest bid had been three thousand five hundred and paid for by the envoy of the emperor. This man was unrecognized and bore no such crest. Who could have that sort of money?

“Sir?” The matchmaker squawked.

He waved to one of his guard and he rushed forward with a small metal box. He opened it for the matchmaker to peer inside, only for her eyes to boggle.

“My master is good for the money,” the man holding the box chuckled before shutting the lid.

“Th-that…is…is there anyone who opposes?” the matchmaker asked once more, sounding numb.

Neither of the other two nobles raised their hands as they glared across the crowd at the newcomer. There was a low murmur through the crowd before the bell rang out, signaling the sale.

Sakura shut her eyes and followed the matchmaker off the stage into the rooms where her sale would be finalized. She sat on the couch watching as several iron chests came into the room, carried by three identical servants. Inside each chest was 1,500 neatly stacked bars of Krown. The last 500 came in a smaller chest. 

It took several minutes for the chests to be counted and the money organized. Sakura closed her eyes and ignored the stares of the three identical servants who watched her where she sat. Her silence and seeming indifference seemed to amuse them.

Then the door opened once more for the silver haired man to enter. His fur collared cloak trailed after him like a pair of long wings, flapping around his legs with each of his long strides. Up close he was even more handsome and Sakura prayed that didn’t mean he was cruel too.

She stood as he entered and met his gaze head on. A different servant bent to talk with the matchmaker while he stared down at her, eyes creasing in the corners even though his mouth didn’t bend in any such smile.

“Then, your mark sir?”

Sakura inhaled sharply and readied herself for the branding all bought brides went through. Some saw it as a mark of pride, but others recognized it for what it was-a shackle. 

“I will not brand her,” he said, speaking with a voice so deep and full it filled the whole room.

“-B-but she might run. A mark is traditionally what-”

“I will not brand her,” the young lord interrupted more firmly. He took a step closer to Sakura then reached for her hand. “But let this serve as my testament.”

Sakura watched as he slid a rose gold colored band onto her ring finger. When she looked down she saw the massive emerald in the center, flanked by a multitude of smaller diamonds.

She stared up at her to-be husband with wide eyes that only made him smile more openly.

“Mah, I’ve been waiting too long for someone I could spoil to my heart’s content. I’ll never give you a reason to run, Sakura.”

“What… what is your name, my lord,” Sakura asked, feeling a bit light headed at the prize on her finger and the message it carried with it. She wasn’t a prize, she was a bride. If she wanted to run her ring would pay her way several times over, and he knew that.

He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “Hatake, but you may call me Kakashi.”

She didn’t have the breath to ask any more questions as his servants stepped up to finish the paperwork that allowed him to take her. He folded her under his arm and lead her out of the room, through the halls, down the stairs, and into the awaiting carriage.

Inside there was a dressmaker’s box on one of the seats he encouraged her to open. She lifted the lid with trembling fingers and gasped at the sight. The same silver feathers that she had sewn together to make her dress were crafted into a similar bodice that complemented a much fuller skirt.

“Your wedding dress. This one served its purpose for our engagement but,” Kakashi kissed the back of her shoulder as he stood behind her, “us old gods are terrible about showing off our extravagance.”

“Kakashi,” she breathed again, not daring to believe it.

He hummed cheerfully. “Yes?”

“Thunderbird…Kakashi.”

“One in the same, my dear.” He ushered her into her seat and sat down beside her. “I’m glad you remember me. Sometimes they don’t. When witnessed in our divine beast forms there are only certain brains that can hold onto the memory. But you,” he kissed under her left eye, “you, are worth far more than gold could buy. I’ve not seen such eyes in many thousands of years.” Kakashi leaned over and kissed under her other eye, reaching for her hand to hold as he did so.

“Why did you do that, though? You…you’re not human, so what could you want with me?” Sakura asked, still feeling light headed even as he kissed the side of her neck.

“I said so, didn’t I? The humans are fools to not see your value, but now you’re mine and I’m yours and we have lifetimes to enjoy together.”

His voice made her feel like melting. As powerful and old as he was, she still felt safe next to him. He was an ancient god who could tear her apart in an instant, but she knew she had never been safer. 

“Lifetimes?”

“I’ve waited too long to have a mate to spoil. I won’t let you go so easily, not even to death,” he promised darkly before bending her down to kiss deeply, lips to lips.

Later that night Kakashi stirred in bed and growled at the presence behind his bed chamber’s doors. His wife was warm in his arms and there was nowhere else he’d rather be. But his stupid servants wouldn’t leave until they had given their report, so he detangled himself and dressed in a simple robe to greet them at the door, making sure the bed curtains were drawn to save Sakura from sight.

“What?” he growled low, promising thunder and pain.

“It’s done, sensei.”

Kakashi exhaled forcefully. “And?”

“As you wished, the lost revenue has been recovered and the Crossroads razed.” 

“The people?”

“After her family safely left we… took care of the spectators.”

Kakashi scoffed at Naruto’s soft tone. He was too young to understand how sometimes these things needed to be done. They were divine beasts, they didn’t need to feel sympathy for the masses.Their feelings were meant for precious few. Just because the humans had forgotten that didn’t mean they had to. Naruto had a long way to go before he could be trusted with his own dominion.

“It’s their fault for looking at wasn’t theirs to behold,” he commented darkly, shifting so more of his body filled the gap between the door and the jam. “Is that it?”

Naruto nodded.

“Then make yourself scarce. Don’t show up unless I call for you again. I don’t plan on attending to any business for the next…couple of weeks.”

“We’ll cover it.”

“Yes, you will.”

And with that Kakashi shut the door on his student. When he drew the curtains back he chuckled at how Sakura had rotated onto her back, fingers curling in her sleep for something she could no longer hold.

He brushed aside the stray feathers and pulled back the covers to slip in and reach for her hip. She turned to him easily and he kissed her shoulder in thanks as she melted against his side.

“Mine,” he breathed in tired fascination. “My precious songbird.”

* * *

Links to dresses: 

[Engagement ](https://66.media.tumblr.com/695d272211119b29630ca4ec7ec12d42/080a1434d5a5f435-3f/s500x750/cf72afa4c3ad4d6aa8620101924cd62488264bb3.png)

[Wedding ](https://66.media.tumblr.com/4259545e51cdb7dd7abd282fc274d361/080a1434d5a5f435-e4/s500x750/6b855699a4cf82bac97422857082d7e2d094502a.png)


End file.
